James_H
And I like to roam the land
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- May 18, 2002
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Miss Wilkinson herself chose to have the matter heard in the crown court
German loses spider injury case
A German woman who fell down and broke her wrist after being confronted by a big spider has failed in her attempt to sue her cleaners for negligence.
A court in Karlsruhe was told that she lost her balance in her garage when the spider appeared in front of her face.
She had sought 6,000 euros (£5,190) in compensation, claiming the cleaners were responsible for her injuries.
But the court ruled that spiders were an everyday risk and that they could creep in through windows at any time.
"Even the regular adherence to the monthly duty of clearing away cobwebs could not guarantee that no spiders would appear," the court's ruling said.
"What happened here was an everyday risk, for which the defendant should not be held responsible," the court concluded.
The cleaners were contracted to clean the garage and sweep away cobwebs once a month.
In May 2008, the woman opened her garage door and was confronted by the spider. The shock caused her to jump backwards suddenly, after which she fell and suffered a bruised right pelvis, bruises to the right side of her face, and a complicated break of the right wrist, the court heard.
rynner2 said:In 2006, Mr Guard made news when a building firm paid him £3.5million for a plot of land in Surrey he had bought 11 years earlier for just £1,000.
No, the law was being an ass in this case, so there's no reason a public-spirited person should have to pay anything (however rich or poor he is).CarlosTheDJ said:Should be paying his own bloody legal bills then.rynner2 said:In 2006, Mr Guard made news when a building firm paid him £3.5million for a plot of land in Surrey he had bought 11 years earlier for just £1,000.
Pellets from toy gun strike judge at family law hearing
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/fro ... 03121.html
CAROL COULTER Legal Affairs Editor
A JUDGE was struck by pellets from a toy pellet gun in Longford District Court last Tuesday.
The incident occurred during a family law hearing before Judge John Neilan, which was held in camera, so no reporter was present and details of the case cannot be revealed.
It is understood that one of the issues in dispute between the parties, who are the parents of a child, was the purchase of a toy pellet gun for the child by the father, to which the mother objected.
The solicitor for one of the parties had the gun in court and it went off accidentally, striking the judge with pellets. He was not injured, and continued hearing the case. Judge Neilan himself bore no responsibility whatsoever for the incident.
The judge has been at the centre of controversy in the past, particularly for statements from the bench.
Last year the Courts Service took the unusual step of issuing a statement to contradict a member of the judiciary, when it said Judge Neilan had consistently refused to meet those involved in reorganising District Court districts and sittings.
It did so in response to remarks he had made about the Courts Service management and staff in which he described the service as “totally, absolutely, utterly incompetent from the CEO down”, and staffed by officials who were “far removed from operating” the system and were merely “moving figures around on a screen”. He was speaking about the issue of adjournments in courts in the midlands area.
In 2003, he issued an apology after widespread criticism of comments he made when two non-Irish national women appeared before him on shoplifting charges. He said: “The majority of shopping centres in this District Court area will be putting a ban on access to coloured people if this type of behaviour does not stop.”
In 2004, he announced he would immediately jail for a week all those guilty of drink-driving while he considered what sentence to impose.
At Mullingar District Court yesterday, when asked to comment on the shooting incident, Judge Neilan smiled and declined to comment.
And the outcome...rynner said:Here's a weird case:
A blessing for vicars, a curse for residents: Church invokes archaic tax to fund repairs
• Homes near to churches could be liable for upkeep
• Parishes told to pursue law to help pay £1bn deficit
Helen Pidd and Jo Adetunji
The Guardian, Monday December 8 2008
Bizarre act halts court hearing
By Kimball Perry • [email protected] • September 2, 2009
James Orr put an immediate halt to his criminal trial Wednesday when he squeezed the contents of his colostomy bag onto the table in front of him and ate it.
"There was what appeared to be feces on the table and on the floor," assistant Hamilton County prosecutor David Prem said.
Prem was prosecuting Orr, 66, for robbery and kidnapping. The trial, without a jury before Common Pleas Court Judge Ethna Cooper, began last week but continued today.
A witness had just taken the stand in the case Wednesday when Norm Aubin, Orr's attorney, said Orr leaned into him and asked if Aubin had anything to eat.
A shocked Aubin said he didn't. Orr then said he was hungry and asked for food. Aubin ignored him.
That's when Orr made a spectacle of taking his colostomy bag, worn on the outside of his body to collect his waste, and placing it on the table. He then squeezed it and looked to be eating it.
"It appeared he was eating his own (feces) at the table," Aubin said.
The Sheriff's deputy in the room shouted "What are you doing?" and then cuffed Orr and rushed him out of the courtroom.
The Sheriff's office later reported there was feces on Orr's lips, beard, hands and the defense table where he was sitting.
The judge suggested the courtroom had become a biohazard area and closed it for cleaning, continuing Orr's trial until next week.
Prem admitted he almost vomited up while watching Orr's antics but suspects they were done with a purpose.
"He's a con man. He has over 50 aliases and has convictions in Ohio and New York for thefts and robberies," Prem said.
"He's done just about everything a person can do to avoid justice. He feigned (mental) incompetence" leading up to this trial, Prem said.
Orr was ordered to trial after court mental health workers deemed him mentally sound and a faker.
"I'm completely convinced his whole goal here is to cause as much mayhem as he can," Prem said of Orr.
Aubin will have jail workers again check Orr's mental health before continuing the trial Wednesday.
No additional charges were filed against Orr after Wednesday's courtroom activity.
Orr was being tried for robbery and kidnapping charges after officials said Orr and a partner tried to get money, in a ruse, from a woman buying food at a Silverton Chinese restaurant. When the woman wasn't fooled, Orr is accused of pulling a gun on her - with her three children in the car outside - and taking her to a bank where she was forced to withdraw $1,000 and give it to Orr. He faces more than 60 years in prison on those charges.
Italian Court Reduces Murderer's Sentence Due To Presence of Gene Linked To Violence
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... nked-gene#
By Stuart Fox Posted 11.03.2009 at 2:45 pm 2 Comments
Deep Red via Video Magica
As Doctor Hibert so eloquently put, "only one in two million people has what we call the "evil gene". Hitler had it, Walt Disney had it, and Freddy Quimby has it." And while we understand that line as a joke, it seems that an Italian court has taken the idea far more seriously.
For the first time ever, an Italian court reduced the sentence of a convicted murderer after forensic scientists highlighted the presence of a gene linked to violent behavior as evidence of the murderer's soundness of mind. The court, convinced that the criminal was not fully in control of his actions, and thus less liable for the crime, reduced the penalty from nine years behind bars to eight.
The genetic evidence was introduced in conjunction with brain scans that showed abnormalities in the murderer's brain, along with reports from conventional psychiatrists. While the defense managed to produce a wealth of evidence, from a variety of sources, to show the murderer suffered from mental illness, the genetic evidence was by far the strangest.
Scientists showed that the murderer under-expressed the gene that codes for the neurotransmitter-metabolizing enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA). In 2002, a study in England found an association between low MAOA expression and violent and criminal behavior by boys raised in abusive households.
While I can't speak to the solidity of the psychiatric assessment (assuming it wasn't conducted by Sam Loomis), the genetic argument sounds a bit dodgy. That being said, the low MAOA expression argument has already been used a few times in the US. While its usually disregarded by the judge, it has influenced sentencing more than once.
[via Nature News]
Indonesian schoolboy cleared of bee sting 'abuse'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8490769.stm
Bees
The boy allegedly put the bee on to his classmate's cheek
An Indonesian schoolboy who was facing "serious abuse" charges for causing a bee to sting a classmate has been cleared by a court, reports say.
The boy, believed to be about nine years old, had allegedly placed the bee on a girl's face where it stung her.
Her parents reported him to the police who arrested him. He faced up to three years in prison.
But the judge said the case was about "normal children's naughtiness" and should never had reached court.
"It could have been settled amicably by the school and the parents involved," judge Sutriadi Yahya was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
Mr Yahya said the boy had been acquitted of all charges and the court would "leave it to the parents to guide him".
The boy's mother, Any Sulistyowati, wept as the verdict was read out, said AFP.
"We're satisfied with the judge's decision. We will look after our child properly," she said.
The Jakarta Post said the girl's parents were angry that she was being teased at school and had wanted to make an example of the boy.
Children in Indonesia are tried as adults from the age of eight, but there are calls for the age to be raised to 12.
Juveniles who are given prison sentences usually serve their term in adult jails, contrary to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Indonesia is a signatory.
In 2009, a group of 10 boys who worked as shoe shiners were accused of gambling while waiting for customers in the capital, Jakarta.
They were found guilty and faced five years in prison, but were returned to their parents' care after a public outcry.